System and method for electronic correlated sales and advertising

ABSTRACT

A system is disclosed for presenting advertisements for products and related products for a consumer based on the products being purchased.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a non-provisional application which claims thebenefit to Provisional Application No. 61/692,298 filed Aug. 23, 2012.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a system and method for electroniccorrelation of sales and advertising.

Description of Related Art

Advertisements are common ways to drive store traffic and increasesales. Further, in store advertisements are common to point out salesand discounted items, encouraging customers to buy the items even ifthey were not planning on it. Similarly, in some situations,advertisements may be displayed near one item to suggest a purchase of acomplimentary item. However, all of these methods of increasing salesfail to target consumers directly based on what they purchase.

Therefore, what is needed is a system that may identify what customersare purchasing and identify complimentary, similar, or competingproducts to present these options to the customer, thereby stimulatingsales.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one embodiment, the present invention provides an advertisementcommunication system providing customized advertisements based on itemsbeing purchased by a customer. In a particular embodiment, the presentinvention is a communication system that may present video, text,pictures and/or audio in either an interactive or non-interactiveformat. The system has a point-of-sale computer with managementsoftware, a USB/PS2 bypass (or other wired/wireless connection)connected to the point-of-sale computer, a bar code reader connectedthrough the USB/PS2 bypass to the point-of-sale computer, an electronicdisplay connected to the bar code reader through the USB/PS2 bypass anda database of product information connected to the electronic display,for example, through a wireless router, a LAN, the internet, or thedatabase may be locally stored on a computer memory. The productinformation in the database includes, for example, bar code data anddata correlating products in the database. When the bar code readerscans a bar code of a first product, data identifying the first productis passed through the USB/PS2 bypass or other connection bus to thecomputer and also to the electronic display. In response to receivingthe data identifying the first product, the electronic display retrievesfrom the database information relating to a second product correlated tothe first product in the database. This retrieved information is thendisplayed by the electronic display.

Still other aspects, features, and advantages of the present inventionare readily apparent from the following detailed description, simply byillustrating a preferable embodiments and implementations. The presentinvention is also capable of other and different embodiments and itsseveral details can be modified in various obvious respects, all withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the present invention.Accordingly, the drawings and descriptions are to be regarded asillustrative in nature, and not as restrictive. Additional objects andadvantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the descriptionwhich follows and in part will be obvious from the description, or maybe learned by practice of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the present invention and theadvantages thereof, reference is now made to the following descriptionand the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an architecture of a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating variations of an electronic display ofa system in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a display of a system in accordance with apreferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a display of a system in accordance witha preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a table illustrating various aspects of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In a preferred embodiment, the present invention is a new powerfulinteractive video, advertising and communication system. The systemcontemplated herein stimulates “pulse” or “impulse” purchases byconsumers by inducing a customer to remember and buy products related toan item the consumer already intends to purchase. As such, the systemresults in increased revenue to an establishment using the system. Thesystem recognizes products via the bar codes on the products. Thebarcodes of various products are stored in a remote and centralizeddatabase in order to collect and use sales data and statistics relatingto each product in a particular market, for example, a pharmacy.

As shown in FIG. 1, a system of a preferred embodiment system has apoint-of-sale computer 110 with management software, a USB/PS2 bypass120 connected to the point-of-sale computer 110, a bar code reader 130connected through the USB/PS2 bypass 120 to the point-of-sale computer110, an electronic display 200 connected to the bar code reader 130through the USB/PS2 bypass 120 and a database 140 of product informationconnected to the electronic display. The database may be connected, forexample, through a wireless router or a LAN 140 and the internet. TheUSB/PS2 bypass 120 receives input from the bar code reader 130 andsplits the input signal into two signals, one is communicated to thepoint of sale computer 110, and the other is communicated to theelectronic display 200. The USB/PS2 bypass 120 may be any structurecapable of splitting an input signal into two of the same signalsincluding, but not limited to, a two channel splitter. The database isstored in a storage, hard drive, or memory and is in electroniccommunication with the electronic display and/or point of sale computer.The database may be stored at a location either locally, or remotely tothe point-of-sale. The product information in the database includes, forexample, bar code data and data correlating products in the database.

When the bar code reader 130 scans a bar code of a first product, dataidentifying the first product is passed through the USB/PS2 bypass 120or other connection bus to the computer 110 and to the electronicdisplay 200. In response to receiving the data identifying the firstproduct, the electronic display 200 retrieves from the database 140, viacommunication through wireless router 150, information relating to asecond product correlated to the first product in the database 140. Theelectronic display 200 displays the information relating to the secondproduct to the user to encourage purchase by the user. The display 200being visible to a purchaser.

In another embodiment, the USB/PS2 bypass 120 may be eliminated byproviding the display 200 in direct communication with the point of salecomputer 110, and connecting the database 140 of product informationdirectly to the point of sale computer 110. In this embodiment, the barcode scanned by the bar code reader 130 is processed by the point ofsale computer 110 in communication with the database 140. The point ofsale computer 110 retrieves information from the database 140 relatingto products correlated to the first product. The point of sale computer110 then provides a signal to the display 200 to display the informationrelating to the second product to the user to encourage purchase by theuser. The display 200 being visible to a purchaser.

The electronic display 200 may be any computerized display, such as asmart display having a processor and memory or other storage means, or acomputer monitor receiving a signal from a computer connected to it.Examples of the electronic display 200 may be a tablet computer such asan iPad®, Kindle® Fire®, Nook® Color, Samsung® Galaxy® Note® or Tab®,and the like, as well as a computer monitor, a laptop, a smart phone, ormobile computing device, among others.

The display 200, shown in FIGS. 2-4, may be, for example, a 10-inch flatscreen tablet display. As shown in FIG. 2, the display may lay flat on acounter, at an angle or perpendicular to a counter, or may be mounted ina vertical manner by conventional means.

The display may be divided, either physically, or more likely, using asoftware based controller to divide a single screen. The division maybe, for example, into a plurality of sections, slots or windows 202, 204and 206 as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. One window may display, for example,products that commonly are or may be purchased together with the productbeing purchased. For example, in the pharmaceutical market when insulinin scanned for purchase, information relating to syringe may bedisplayed. If an antibiotic is scanned for purchase, a pro-biotic may beshown. Another window may display alternative products, such as similarproducts from different brands or the same brand in a different format,such as a syrup as an alternative to a pill. In another embodiment, awindow or slot may display products that are correlated by family, suchas products with similar functions or purpose. For example, informationof a hair removal machine being displayed when a hair removal cream isscanned for purchase. Additionally, slots or windows in the displaycould be used for paid advertising. FIG. 5 is a table illustrating anexample of advertising revenue generated by selling advertising time inthe various slots or windows on a percentage basis. In the table in FIG.5, the pricing for each product is influenced by the product (A, B, C, .. . ), the number of stores associated with the service and the numberof products.

In another embodiment, the electronic display may display useful orimportant information relating to a product being purchased. Forexample, if the product is a drug that cannot be used with other drugsor may cause complications with them, this information may be providedto the electronic display. In another example, product warnings orallergy information may be provided. This information related to theproduct may be displayed in addition to or instead of an advertisementor information relating to a second product.

The product correlation data in the database may be provided by aproducer or distributor of products, by the store operator advertiser,or the like. Further, the correlation data may be developed throughanalysis of prior sales, either through store gathered data, or fromlarge scale data gathering services and data warehouses. Moreover, thecorrelations may be entered, for example, by a distributor through aweb-based user interface.

When a customer purchases an item, a barcode on the item is scanned. Thescanned bar code data is passed from the bar code reader to thepoint-of-sale computer and to the electronic display through the USB/PS2bypass. Using the received bar code data, the electronic display, orpoint of sale computer, or processor in communication with the displayretrieves correlation data associated with received bar code data anddisplays information of other products related to the product beingpurchased.

Additionally, data relating to sales of additional products through useof the display, i.e., additional items sold with the original item beingpurchase after information of the additional items has been shown on thedisplay, may be collected and analyzed over time.

In still yet another embodiment, the system may further comprise a useridentification source such as a card, barcode, ID number, or the like.In this embodiment, the identification source may be scanned duringcheckout, either before other items are scanned or after. By scanningthe identification source, the database may receive the scannedinformation and provide output information to the electronic displaybased on customer's history. This information may include reminders forrecent purchases to re-purchase, notifications, suggested products forpurchase, targeted advertisement, and the like.

The foregoing description of the preferred embodiment of the inventionhas been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It isnot intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the preciseform disclosed, and modifications and variations are possible in lightof the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of theinvention. The embodiment was chosen and described in order to explainthe principles of the invention and its practical application to enableone skilled in the art to utilize the invention in various embodimentsas are suited to the particular use contemplated. It is intended thatthe scope of the invention be defined by the claims appended hereto, andtheir equivalents. The entirety of each of the aforementioned documentsis incorporated by reference herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A checkout and point of sale system forpresenting information related to an identified product during checkoutcomprising: a point of sale computer; a universal serial bus/personalsystem/2 bypass connected to the point of sale computer configured tosplit a data output from a bar code reader connected through theuniversal serial bus/personal system/2 bypass to the point-of-salecomputer, the splitting of the data output splitting the data outputfrom the bar code reader into two identical signals, a first of the twoidentical signals going to the point of sale computer; an electronicdisplay comprising a computer processor connected through the universalserial bus/personal system/2 bypass to the bar code reader, a second ofthe two identical signals from the universal serial bus/personalsystem/2 bypass going to the electronic display, the electronic displaybeing isolated from communication with the point of sale computer; and adatabase in a computerized storage, the database comprising productinformation, data correlating products in the database and visualrepresentations of product warning information, the database inelectronic communication with the electronic display, and isolated fromcommunication with the point of sale computer; the database accessibleby at least one of a producer, distributor, or store operator, whereinthe data correlating products in the database is enterable by the atleast one of the producer, distributor, or store operator, via aweb-based user interface; wherein, when the bar code reader scans a barcode of a first product, providing the data output identifying the firstproduct, the data identifying the first product is passed through theuniversal serial bus/personal system/2 bypass and split, sending thefirst signal to the point of sale computer and the second signal to theelectronic display, and in response to receiving the data identifyingthe first product, the electronic display computer processor operable toretrieve, from the database, information relating to a second productcorrelated to the first product and operable to cause the electronicdisplay to present the information relating to the second product on theelectronic display in a first window portion of the electronic display,so as to dynamically present customized information to a customer basedon the first product, allowing customized advertising directed to thecustomer presented on the electronic display; and wherein the computerprocessor of the electronic display is operable to cause the electronicdisplay to present product warning information in a second windowportion of the electronic display which is visually separated from thefirst window, so as to dynamically present customized product warninginformation to the customer based on the first product, allowingcustomized information to be directed to the customer presented on theelectronic display; the checkout and point of sale system being operablewithout a modification of the point of sale computer by the isolation ofthe electronic display and the database from the point of sale computer,thereby allowing the checkout and point of sale system to be operable onan existing point of sale computer without modification of the existingpoint of sale computer.
 2. The system for presenting information relatedto an identified product of claim 1 wherein the electronic display isconfigured to display an advertisement in addition to the informationrelating to the second product.
 3. The system for presenting informationrelated to an identified product of claim 1 wherein the electronicdisplay is in wireless communication with the database.
 4. The systemfor presenting information related to an identified product of claim 1wherein the electronic display is configured to retrieve informationrelating to a third product correlated to the first product from thedatabase, and configured to display the information relating to thethird product.
 5. The system for presenting information related to anidentified product of claim 1 wherein the electronic display isconfigured to display information relating to the first product inaddition to the information relating to the second product.
 6. Thesystem for presenting information related to an identified product ofclaim 1 further comprising an identification source, the identificationsource being scannable by the bar code reader, which provides an outputregarding the scanned identification source; and wherein the outputregarding the scanned identification source is passed through theuniversal serial bus/personal system/2 bypass to the electronic display,and in response to receiving the output, the electronic displayretrieves from the database information relating to a history of theidentification source.
 7. The system for presenting information relatedto an identified product of claim 1 wherein the information relating tothe second product is information relating to a product frequentlypurchased with the first product; wherein the electronic display furtherretrieves, from the database, information relating to a third product,the third product being an alternative to the first product, theelectronic display configured to display the information relating to thethird product.
 8. The system for presenting information related to anidentified product of claim 1 wherein the information relating to thesecond product is information relating to a product frequently purchasedwith the first product; wherein the electronic display furtherretrieves, from the database, information relating to a third product,the third product being a product with a similar function as the firstproduct, the electronic display configured to display the informationrelating to the third product.